Well, Saturday, I had an industrious fit come over me and I did my Narrative Structures essay. Yes, I know the deadline’s at the end of the month and I’ve still got a lot of time. Didn’t say my industrious fit was supposed to be relevant. :p Which means what I’m actually supposed to be doing – like my readings for next week – are still undone but I’ve got a large portion of the Narrative essay done. Probably it’s all rubbish. I’m dreading rereading and editing. Haha!

Went for Daryl’s choir concert Saturday night. “The Beat Goes On” – Cantemus by NTU CAC Choir. It was fun being on the other side of the stage for the first time in a long time at a choir concert. VCH was like full house. Well done to them for managing to sell so many tickets. They had the NTU Choir alumni singing as a guest choir too. NTU choir wasn’t all that bad. They were smaller than the NUS choir and they sang very very very softly. They got better nearer the intermission. Maybe they warmed up by then. To my unsensitive ears, they sounded quite alright, except for the volume. They’re very good at soft passages but the loud ones give them problems. Maybe their voices aren’t developed enough or something. Not much power. But I liked their song selection. They did Eric Whitacre too. Animal Crackers was interesting. Mr Yong took The Panther slower than we did. Never realised how short and abrupt those songs seem to be. I like their Seal Lullaby. It was sweet and, like I said, they’re good at the soft passages. It was this song that their loud passages started to come out a bit more and that was certainly nice. Pity intermission had to come and interrupt that development. The alumni choir sang pretty well, considering their numbers. They did Verano Porteno like we did last year. I like our version better. But I think they did well for Lux Aurumque. Whitacre’s songs are tough, even his easy ones. But I think they did really well (considering I don’t know how it’s supposed to sound like). Then intermission. After that the singing kind of went down the drain but it was highly entertaining. The whole second half was dancing galore. All the 60s Hairspray-esque music. They used prerecorded music which kind of drowned out their voices. I liked Defying Gravity. After all this time of avoiding that song (for some strange preference reason), I find that it’s really a nice song. Like it. Anyway, like I said, the dancing was uber entertaining. Choirs don’t do that usually. Nelson would probably kill himself than let us do it, especially at the expense of our singing. Pity. It would have been so fun! Their medley portion was cool. Daryl danced pretty well.

Overall, I think that the venue hurt the choir more than it helped. VCH has high ceilings and is big with a significant portion of the audience being covered by the second level seats. So the sound just sucked. I kind of thought that the choir would have sounded a lot better in a smaller hall. Cos they did sound good to me. Just that their sound got lost in the hall. Of course, sucky hall or not is not an excuse for a uni choir. Maybe next year, their current batch has been with them longer, their voices will change. I know NUS choir’s sound has definitely changed over the years. NTU choir is still young. There’s time.

Wanted to comment on the audience. Lots of secondary school kids in the audience. Hope I wasn’t like that when I was in secondary school. Freaking irritating and annoying bunch of kids acting like it’s their first time out in town. At least there wasn’t whispering or talking (that I could notice) during the performance. They’re all choristers anyway (most likely) so guess they know how to behave. But there were some people – looks like JC age – who were sashaying in all late! The concert started on time at 7.30pm. 8pm still got people walking in. One song before intermission still got people coming in!!!!!! What the fuck!!!! They’re that late, missed half the concert, why bother showing up in the first place?! I was really pissed by that. And, because they were late and it’s free seating, there was no seats for them except the very front few rows. So the entire hall could see them taking their own sweet time to come in whilst the choir is in the middle of a song. And, you’d expect them to be apologetic and maybe a bit embarrassed, quickly go to a seat and quit distracting everyone. NO!!!! They STAND there in the aisle and DISCUSSED which seat to take!! OhMyGod! I feel pissed off just thinking about it. Have some respect for the performers, if you don’t respect your fellow audience members.

Moving on. Sunday. Went around church trying to get people to do my questionnaire for 3211. It was freaking hard to get people to do it. Especially when we had to fulfil the quota for people above 60. No problem with the young ones. They were all curious and quite willing to help out by filling one out. Wish I could do more of the younger age group but I’m only allowed 2. :p

Oh yeah, used Clifford’s iPhone during choir sectionals cos he’s got this cool application that lets you use a digital keyboard on your phone. *dreams* Loved it! I want iPhone just for this app. But, getting the chance to ‘fiddle’ with the iphone, particularly the touchscreen, it seems to be alright. Quite sensitive (at times a little too sensitive) but not like the HTC that Wanni let me try. This one’s built to let people poke it with their fingers to do stuff. I’m really really really leaning towards an iPhone now.

Had dinner at SingPost. Went to a second hand book stall that was set up in the basement. Was actually thinking to buy LOTR paperback and I’ve noticed that secondhand books are usually cheaper and the quality isn’t all that bad. But this stall only had LOTR chopped up into the three books. Which I wasn’t too keen on getting. Pity. ROTK had Aragorn’s gorgeous face plastered over the front cover. Hee! But I DID get Interview with the Vampire! That was a really good find! Been trying to get that from the library for ages but it’s all out. And here I find it for just $5. Isn’t that great or what? The stallkeeper was saying that she has had customers like me lately. Another guy was trying to get Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code from the library but, like me, he found her stall and bought the book from her. I think it’s amazing how these popular books find their way to secondhand stores and people like me find them there. Cheap and available. Excited to read it. After I finish reading my other 2 Anne Rice books that I got from the library the other day (Blackwood Farm and Merrick). I know. Where do I find my time to read and all? I don’t know the answer to that either. Haha!

Finally managed to get the family to watch Touched by an Angel: I Will Walk With You. I’ve had that for ages and never managed to get them to watch it. TY recorded it for me years ago. The parents were initially all talking piracy with me but strangely enough, the minute I told them the title, they just shut up about it. Subjective are they? I would buy the DVDs and all, but I don’t want the entire series. I only wanted this particular episode. I liked it and I think they liked it too. It’s the finale episode. But I talked about it before – HERE and HERE- so I won’t go into it now. Good series. They don’t make shows like that anymore and lord knows, the world needs more shows like that these days. Themes of faith, hope, love, trust… they just aren’t shown on TV anymore. Maybe they don’t make the ratings as much as violence, betrayal, drama, comedy, sex… do. A show about angels who help people in the world to regain their faith, their hope, to remind them that they’re not alone and that god loves them… what place does it have in today’s society? It’s a pity and a shame that the series has ended and nothing seems to be able to adequately replace it.

Oh well. That was my weekend. I should get to sleep. It’s 12.30am. Not really sleepy at the moment though. That’s my problem. I think I’m becoming a little of an insomniac. My internal clock’s a little out of whack about shutting down time, though it doesn’t seem to have a problem with getting up time. I find myself waking up at the same time even when I don’t need to.

So I finally got round to watching it. Very nice company to have on V day. I didn’t realise there were such big names in that movie: Brad Pitt (Louis), Tom Cruise (Lestat), Antonio Banderas (Armand), Kirsten Dunst (Claudia)… The movie is pretty cool actually. I didn’t expect it to be that good. It’s basically the vampire Louis relating his ‘life’ story to this reporter dude whom he was going to kill but didn’t. The opening scene made me think about Narrative Structures and the opening shot thing. How the opening shot goes from general to specific. But I found it interesting cos the opening shot was first an aerial view of San Francisco, then it panned down to specifics – a street, people in the street… but then it suddenly pulled up again into a upper room in a building. It seemed interesting to me. Like maybe saying that the vampires, they’re in the world but not quite in the world. Also, I could see the narrator/storyteller thing that I was so confused about. I think. The interviewer was the narrator but Louis was the story teller. The discourse went further than the story did cos the storyteller stopped telling the story and the narrative still continued after the story stopped because the audience still sees events through the eyes of the narrator.

Anyway, I’m much more satisfied watching this movie than Twilight. It’s so much more a vampire film. These vampires have fangs but they still don’t leave just two puncture marks when they bite. It’s still the entire set of teeth. Cool eyes too. They barely blinked. I was watching out for the blinking but could hardly detect it.

The ending confused me a little. Cos prior to the last scene, Louis was talking about Lestat – the vampire who made him and whom he and Claudia tried to kill. He said that as he entered the 20th century, he found Lestat again, but he wasn’t the same sauve, debonair Lestat. He was a pitiful broken man/vampire who hid in old abandoned houses and cringed at the sight of artificial lights. BUT, at the closing scene, Lestat made an appearance as the interviewer guy was driving away. He attacked the interviewer person, and started to drive his car. See the confusion here? If he was really the kind of broken vampire Louis described him to be, he wouldn’t have done those things. And cos at the end, he repeated the same words to the interviewer as he told Louis 3 centuries ago: I’m going to give you a choice. Suggesting that he’s totally in control of himself and not what Louis said. That’s what confused me. I began thinking of something Talib brought up in class the other day about representation. How did Louis represent himself in his narrative and how did he represent Lestat? Louis painted himself like someone who had been conned and victimised or something, as though Lestat was evil. Even though Louis did say that he regretted trying to kill Louis. But it surprised me how Louis said that Lestat was broken when it looked as though he wasn’t. Was that supposed to be some kind of ploy to justify his actions? That Louis is trying to make himself out to be more powerful? Or to make him just feel better than his maker? Know what I mean? Like Louis is fabricating a ‘false’ history of himself and Lestat. Makes me wonder how much of his previous story is actually true.

I think the scene where Claudia ‘died’ was sad. But it reminded me a lot about Twilight’s concept of ‘immortal children’. Not quite Twilight, Breaking Dawn, more accurately. Claudia was only a child when Lestat changed her. Literally a child. She acted and behaved like a child even after she became a vampire. Funny bit where she killed her seamstress and Lestat was like, “Claudia! What did we tell you? Now who’s going to finish your dress? You must remember these practicalities!” Anyway, point is, Claudia would probably have been considered an immortal child in the Twilight universe and it’s true that she can be dangerous. She is still childish and it’s probably Lestat’s and Louis’ spoiling of her that makes her worse in a way. I mean, she’s sweet and loving and all, but when she doesn’t get her way or wants revenge… watch out! She tried (and almost succeeded) in killing Lestat the first time. But all she wanted was the love of a parent (she was the surviving daughter of a plague victim). She found someone in Paris and had Louis change her for her. But they got destroyed by the other deranged vampires. They got thrown into a dry well and burned when the sun rose. It’s sad. By the time Louis was at liberty to save them (he had been imprisoned too), it was too late and all that was left was an ash ’statue’. You could see the expression on Claudia’s face screaming, and how the other vampire tried to protect her but failed. That was sad. Louis really loved Claudia like she was his own daughter.

Talking about Louis and Lestat. I kept detecting homosexual hints in those two. It was hilarious as I kept yelling “Omg! So gay!!” at them. It was just the way they behaved towards each other. Especially how Lestat made Claudia so that Louis wouldn’t leave and the two of them were like Claudia’s parents. A gay couple with an adopted kid. Typical isn’t it? Or was it supposed to be… vampirism as homosexuality? Lestat had to work so hard to get Louis to accept that he’s a vampire and he’s supposed to kill humans and suck their blood and Louis tried so hard to resist, trying to act human. Maybe I’m reading a bit too much into it though.

It was a little scary. I thought I would be nightmaring about it for a while, especially since I tend to freak out watching zombie flicks and this one I watched by myself at night in the dark. The part that probably freaked me out most was when Claudia was pitching a fit and she started throwing her toys everywhere and uncovering the rotting corpse of some woman she killed. That freaked me out cos I wasn’t expecting it. A grey corpse amist the colourful dolls and toys. *shudder*Oh, and when Lestat came back from the ‘dead’ for the first time. That was scary cos previously, we saw Lestat as this really attractive man – fair skin and all. Then he suddenly showed up at the door like a typical zombie flick. *shudder again*

Anyway, I thought it was a brilliant film. Very unlike what I expected (didn’t expect much with Tom Cruise being one of the leads, but he wasn’t too bad). Would love to get hold of the book now.

ETA:

Oh yeah, forgot to mention. Watched Bon Jovi in concert on TV on Saturday. I was royally pissed with it seemed like the best song – Lost Highway – was censored (youtube link there for the non-censored version). Can you imagine? Censored!!!! Know the line they removed? “My plastic dashboard Jesus“. It was bizarre. That was the chorus and like the band sang the line before that, then immediately skipped to the line after. It didn’t make sense!!!! It was supposed to go: “And waiting there to greet us is my plastic dashboard Jesus. Hey! Hey!” But instead, what was shown was: “And waiting there to greet us. Hey! Hey!” What the hell?! On the other hand, they allowed the line “Got just enough religion“. Omg. I’m outraged! I’m ok with censorship but when censorship affects the overall content, NO WAY!!! Go compare the non-censored version and try to imagine the missing line. Jsut doesn’t make sense.

And then! They cut the concert short! I don’t understand why. It’s not as if there was something important to be shown after that. You know what they showed after that? Just for Laughs. Why don’t they just finish the damn concert! And I discovered later on youtube, there was a great song later – Hallelujah. Yeah, Bon Jovi covered that one too. Loved it!

Ok. There’s my rant of the day. And yes, I admit that I enjoy listening to Bon Jovi.

Yesterday, met up with some of the MJ choir alumni. Me and Duan were the only ones from our batch. That was awkward. But surprisingly, there were about 20 people spread over the 4 batches of alumni we have. As in, there were representatives from each batch. Had dinner at Pizza Hut and chatted a little. Not much use in the socialising department cos we sat with people we know and then the juniors were congregating by themselves, so… But it was interesting to meet up with them. Hope we can work on songs for concert together sometime. If and when MJ choir next decides to hold a concert. It’s been a year since the last concert. They didn’t have one last year, can you believe it?

Today was kind of interesting. It began very studiously with me meeting up with Wanni to try to revise Syntax. It wasn’t exactly a total failure but it could have gone better I think. At the very least, I’ve touched my Syntax notes and won’t be as clueless as I expect to be when school starts. Dr Soh confused us a lot cos she used some different terminology from what Dr Kim used and so that’s a bit of a problem. I really should go through the notes again sometime before school starts. I keep saying that but I doubt I’ll do it. Sucks.

Afternoon, went to watch Twilight in the cinemas. Mum went with me. I must have sounded super pathetic when I told her I planned to go by myself cos no one wanted to go with me – everyone else either doesn’t want to watch it or has already watched. So Mum went with me. Complete waste of $7.50 cos she went in just to sleep. I got in at $6.50 cos I’m still a student. Um… It was surprisingly crowded, given that it’s a Monday and school just started for the rest of the world. The whole cinema was full of school kids. Probably from the poly cos they were not in uniform. Anyway, at least they weren’t swooning verbally over the screen. Anyway, I said I would reconsider my final review of Twilight after having watched it in the cinema. Well, it is a little better. Maybe cos I’ve been watching the behind the scenes and whatnot on youtube. The picture is much much much clearer and I saw details I missed. Like for some reason, Bella was holding a cactus in the opening sequence. Then later, we see that she and Edward won the Golden Onion from Bio class and she was holding that too. I was very ticked by the Onion. Of course, appreciate Edward’s face a whole lot more when I watch it on a huge screen. Haha! But I agree, there’s far too much close up time on hot smoldering faces of the two leads. Time that could have been employed more profitably elsewhere. I could notice the music a lot better too. I’m very very VERY tickled when I hear Robert Pattinson’s songs being played as background music cos his singing voice… let’s say it leaves very much to be desired. *struggles to control my laughter* I’ll comment on his speaking voice later. I heard traces of Bella’s Lullaby being played during the movie too, not just at the specific scene where Edward’s playing, and I concede that it’s alright. It may not tally with the book, but it fits for the film. According to the Behind the Scenes, Rob was supposed to compose it but his composition was far too random so it wasn’t used.

Acting wise, not much has changed, though I stand by my previous opinion that perhaps Rob has potential, especially when he breaks out of his wooden kind of acting and shows a bit more emotion. Kristen is just too far away from Bella. I can’t imagine. I absolutely LOVE Rob’s voice. Haha! Me has a thing for British accents but I’m impressed at how Rob manages to not speak in such an overt British accent. I heard his real voice in interviews and the accent there is very very London RP kind. So, I’m impressed at that. It must be difficult. I’m a little biased judging acting ability cos I’m just so won over by Rob’s accent. Haha! Anyway, I have to say that I think the lighting fellas are trying too hard. The picture has a mainly cool cast, especially the indoor scenes and it’s like they’re trying too hard to… I don’t know, make Edward look pale. This reminds me of Edward Scissorhands. Couldn’t they use the same effect there? Johnny Depp in ES was super pale and white and pasty and THAT is vampirish I think. In some scenes, the Cullens don’t look any less pale than any of them and in one scene, I actually saw steam coming from Carlisle’s mouth (you know, the kind when it’s cold and you talk and there’s steam?). Such a wrong thing to do. They’re supposed to be cold. Oh, by the way, I LOVE seeing the cars in well defined picture. There were some shots that looked like car ads. Lovely. Edward’s eyes too. They were such clear golden-ish. Very nice to look at. The scene when Edward reveals his skin in sunlight was a little anti-climatic. I expected him to glow but they only made him glisten. Of course, the glistening was pretty too but a little bit tame. Oh and the scene in Edward’s room, it was interesting to see that besides the really cool modern stuff, there was also some older contraptions around the place. Nice to juxtapose old and new to show how long Edward’s been around.

I’d really love to pick on the scriptwriters again. There were some scenes, maybe some lines of dialogue that could have been added to emphasise on the vampire theme. Like they could have had Edward talk more about being dangerous, spread it out through the film instead of at that one point in the meadow scene. Or in the hospital at the end, Edward could mention that her blood tasted sweet to him, that it was hard for him to stop and leave her alive. Just a reminder that he still desires her blood and could kill her anytime. They should have let Bella find out about Edward before Port Angeles – better to show how she knew about him but didn’t care. That’s kind of the essence of the romance. That she knows but still wanted to be with him. I’m actually kind of upset that they left out the bit where Bella sees the antique cross in the Cullen home. That would really show the ambiguity and struggle of this vampire family and add an interesting and more complex dimension to the film. That they are vampires with conscience. Instead, they put in the picture of graduation hats, which was funny, but totally meaningless. Anyway, I still think the scriptwriters were far too abrupt and trying to do too much in too little time. Not really their fault, but it was far too rushed. Like in the forest when Bella revealed that she knew he’s a vampire, suddenly he grabbed her and ran up the mountain and revealed everything. WAY too fast.

So, I suppose I could bump Twilight up to 2 out of 5 stars but it’s a shaky 2. It’s a nice movie for a mindless afternoon when there’s nothing else better to watch. Eye candy is always nice to watch.

Skip this post if you haven’t watched the Twilight movie and don’t want spoilers.

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Right, so, I didn’t want to blog so soon after that last post of mine (yeah, I sometimes time my posts when I want people to read), but I just can’t resist. I finally caved and watched Twilight online. And I have to say that it’s the lousiest movie I’ve seen in a while. Oh my GOD!!! The book is miles better. I don’t remember actors’ names so I’ll call them by character. Edward is pure eye candy. His acting, except for rare moments (which I’ll talk about later), is stiff and wooden and expressionless. Bella’s trying too hard to be emo and is nowhere near the loveable klutzy girl that Meyer wrote. Carlisle was my favourite character. *tries not to gush about Carlisle here* The plot is not very well developed I think. The story moves too fast into the love story between Edward and Bella and dwells far too much on the love scenes, which weren’t even done well. A lot of the love scenes in the book were kind of intellectual, as in there was a very significant point to them. Not the kind of mindless I-kiss-you-you-kiss-me type that the movie portrayed. Similar for the school scenes. There was just not enough time to develop the characterisation and the kinds of things that go on there. The scriptwriters would have done well to stick to the original book that Meyer wrote. That’s already condensed down so much and already pure entertainment. By trying to glamourise and package the story for film, the scriptwriters seem to have lost the essence of the book and created something on their own – some superficial Hollywood kind of romance that’s done badly – there are other better romance films out there.

Let’s talk about the good bits. Like I said, Carlisle was good. Very natural kind of acting, not forced. I liked the scenes in the Cullen house, especially when they showed the Cullen family trying to cook for Bella. I think that’s my favourite. The part when Edward brought Bella to his room, he has this look like he’s not sure if she’s going to like it, that scene was nice. Love all their cars. Um… I like the bit where Charlie was cleaning his gun and Bella said that Edward’s outside and then Charlie suddenly snaps the gun to and tells her to bring him in. Yeah. I didn’t like much I think. Can’t remember. Ok, I kind of like the fight scene in the ballet studio. It was cool in a way. James was not that bad an actor but I didn’t expect him to be portrayed like that. Something in his voice seems unexpected. I like that line that the scriptwriters put in for Edward: when Bella tells him she wants some answers, he says, “Yes, no, to get to the other side, 1.77254…” which was hilarious IMO even if it was delivered in Edward’s deadpan and expressionless voice. Like I said, there were rare moments when Edward broke out of this expressionless thing he has going on. Can’t remember specific ones, but those moments were much welcome relief.

So, overall, I think I give Twilight a very low 1 out of 5 stars, unfortunately. The acting is not up to par, the plot is undeveloped and rushed and the characters are far too underdeveloped and one dimensional. It seems like just any other teenage romance film that happens that the main character is a vampire. A bit more emphasis on the fact that the main character is a vampire would have been nice. Can’t comment on the effects cos the online version I watched is not very good. I got a problem with how Edward doesn’t always look chalky white and stone carved but maybe that’s just the low resolution of this version. I will go and watch it again in cinemas, just cos I said I would. Maybe it’ll have a different effect when I watch it with people and push it up to a 2 stars rating in my book. *shrugs* Like I said, there’s nothing wrong with what’s written in the book so why not just follow it closely? There’s so much more in there in the way things are done and portrayed that give richness to the plot that got lost in translation to the big screen. I expected to be disappointed but not this badly. I think I’d still stick to the book and my imagination.

Apologies to my friends who are avid fans of the film.

Well, it was a pretty interesting weekend. Lots of critiques so, fair warning.

Saturday morning had to wake up early for a wedding at the church. Nick’s friend. 9am. Oh my god. It was a nice wedding even if I didn’t know who da heck was getting married. Hehe! Fk was being his usual strange weird self. Haha! I mean, hello? His homily was just not appropriate I think. Well, sure, it’d be ok if you were like related to the couple or something, but devoting practically the entire homily to dire threats of disagreements, quarrells, disagreements and divorce doesn’t seem to be very nice. Goodness. Some things I ‘learned’, 1) Do not invite FK. That’s rule number one and the biggest rule ever. His homily at this wedding plus the one he gave at Uncle Mike’s funeral (‘I’m sure he’s going to meet the late Fr Yim when he gets up there’ *rolls eyes* Talk about no link) just tops the bill for his strangeness. Oh goodness. 2) I do NOT want the Genesis reading to ever make an appearance if I get married. *the feminist in me rears up* Talk about an overt female subjugation. I’d rather prefer the story of Lilith and how she was created as Adam’s equal rather than Eve to be Adam’s companion (read slave). My wedding would have the Song of Solomon reading instead. That’s so much more romantic and appealing to feminist sentiments. Haha! Anyway, the Adam story reminds me, another of Fk’s strange anecdotes was to ask the groom whether he’d ever counted the bride’s ribs. Why? Because apparently women have one more rib than men do cos she was created from Adam’s rib. Oh my god. There he goes again. You know, I really wonder if they teach discourse/speech writing at the seminary. I think priests should be trained in that. Anyway, so that was the wedding and apparently we earned some ang pow money for singing, so that’s good.

Then afternoon, did some schoolwork. Yay me. Crapped up 500 words for SFG. Literally crap. I have no idea what I was supposed to write. I think the first assignment with the theme and rheme and stuff was so much better. Then again, I haven’t paid proper attention in SFG for a while now so… Tried to work a bit on ID also. Again, that one I don’t know what to say for my part of the presentation. They just seem like one-liners. Boo.

I loved Saturday night. Ah Ma had a chalet at East Coast. The one that used to be Coasta Sands. Yeah well now it’s changed it’s name to Goldkist. Like, what the hell of a cheesy name is that? Like they couldn’t use Sunkist so they just varied it? Coasta Sands was such a better name. But, the place is really nice now. It’s clean and new and the toilets look like hotel toilets (without a bathtub, of course). You can always tell about a place based on its toilets. But I had fun. Ah Ma invited all her aunty friends. Well, apparently they were relatives but I’ve never seen them before in my life. One of the aunties thought I was my mother. I don’t know if that should be a compliment. Baby Janice and Baby Charlie were there, thank god. They’re the main reasons why my night was so fun. Janice was wearing this totally inappropriate frilly pink dress. Totally cute but not appropriate for a beach chalet but she didn’t care. Course she wouldn’t. She’s only 4. What does dirty dresses mean to her? At least, she knew to lift up her skirt before sitting in the sand. Charlie was cute too, eating grapes and strawberries. I don’t know to be glad or not that he can understand Mandarin now. He used to be seemingly monolingual in Thai. I try to speak to them in English but most of the time, it’s a futile exercise. I have no idea if Janice understands me or if I’m just verbal wallpaper to her. If I want her to do something, I have to use Mandarin. Charlie, well, English isn’t a language to him, it’s verbal wallpaper too. But then, he’s only 1, there’s still time to expose him to the language.

Jonathan was there too and he was a really good boy taking care of and playing with Janice when she wanted (like playing Scissors Paper Stone (ultimate!!) and making sand castles with her). Linus just hid in the cupboard and played his Nintento game. Well, he did come out and pick a fight with his brother. I don’t know what their mother is up to lor! I mean, she was there when a full scale wrestling match happened right in the middle of the room and did nothing to stop it. I was sitting there going, oh my god. This is a public place lor! In front of all those remote aunties. Embarrassing much?? Me didn’t interfere cos my mum would be like, their parents are present, let them handle it. Anyway, me was nice and socialised a bit with the aunties when they spoke to me. Otherwise, I just hung out with Charlie, Janice and Jonathan. Good enough company.

Watched the first and last half hour of the Inuyasha movie on Okto. Haha! Yes, I stooped to watch anime. It wasn’t bad. They were speaking in Japanese with English subtitles. I don’t know the main plot cos I missed the middle portion but I think I’ll watch next week’s Inuyasha movie too. I don’t like the way they exaggerate the characters’ expressions like all typical Japanese anime does, but it’s interesting nevertheless.

Then Sunday morning. Was very very SUPER reluctant to get up and go to church. I guess I was thinking too much during the wedding (like analysing bible texts for feminist stuff and discovering that a lot of prayers are in imperative voice). Yeah. It doesn’t do too well for mindless religion. Don’t know. Guess it was one of those attacks of the blues. Couldn’t sing, could barely stand just sitting there and going through the ritual. Felt freaking hypocritical. But I guess that’s the way it’s been for a long while now. Me sitting in church and going through the motions so as to make other people happy and to let them believe what they want to believe about me. We all have to do such things and it sucks.

Afternoon was better. Watched some Project Runway on youtube. Worked a bit on ID. Oh, I read Brisingr, the new Christopher Paolini installment of the Eragon story. CAUTION: if you intend to read the book and don’t want spoilers, skip the rest of this paragraph. You have been warned. Anyway, my verdict is that, while interesting, it doesn’t quite stand up to the previous two books. Paolini’s going down the slippery slope of Harry Potter and JK Rowling I think. There’s a lot of action in the book. So much so that there are chapters that are absolutely irrelevant and do nothing to forward the plot. Like there was an entire chapter (well, just about 4 pages I think) about Roran and Katrina and mainly about their love and affection for each other and then kissing. I was reading that and thinking, what??!! You made me read 4 pages of THIS??! And what was the point of telling us about Sloan? Unless he’s to play some kind of part later on which I don’t know about. And pages and pages of dwarf politics. Whilte intriuging, I don’t think we really needed to know all that. It’s there only to build up background, not foreground. I mentioned the Harry Potter resemblance, well, it’s just uncanny I think. The plot twists (reminiscent of the classic ‘Luke, I am your Father’), the silvery gedway ignasia on Eragon’s palm (Harry Potter and his scar), the death of a close friend/teacher (remember Sirus), the eccentric ’sage’ who gives riddly advice (Dumbledore), the Eldunari (Horcrux), the friend-turned-traitor who might still be a friend (Snape), the horribly powerful enemy who’s dabbled in evil sorcery and can possess people (so Voldemort, no?). Oh lord, the resemblance is uncanny. And all the elves and dwarves and dragons and magic, human, rebellion (all reminiscent of Star Wars and Lord of the Rings). Anyway, you can tell I’m not very impressed. It lives up to what I was hoping (to find out what happens next). I guess I’m not a big fan of big serial books. My bro says this one’s to be a series of 5. There’s always the curse of the sequel. Sequels don’t ever seem to do as well as the original first one. And since I could pull so much out of this book that reminded me of the other fantasy books I know, it isn’t as impressive and doesn’t seem as original as it could be. Even the first book I was strongly reminded of Star Wars. The simple farm boy called out to save the world from the evil emperor. I’m not describing Star Wars. I was describing Eragon. but the basic plot’s the same isn’t it? So…buy the book if you want. It’s not THAT bad as to wait for the library to stock it and it’s pretty affordable. I got it at Borders for <$40 and hard cover too. The plot can stand if you want some entertainment but don’t look for anything wildly original that’ll blow your socks off. That said, if Christoper Paolini ever reads this review, don’t worry. Keep writing. I bought all the Harry Potter books and I’d buy your book too but puh-leeeease do something different. Don’t make it into Harry Potter of Alagaesia universe.

So that took up my afternoon. Watched Highschool Musical 2 that was showing on Channel 5. Not that I’m all that into HSM. The first movie was tolerable. Never watched the 2nd till now. Well…I’m glad I watched it on free TV rather than in the theatre. It was freaking corny!!!!!! Gabriella has the most annoying voice. Troy has a nice voice but is more or less just a pretty face. There is no plot whatsoever. Ok, they tried but it was not even the cliched cool boy meets nerd girl that was the first movie. It’s like just a showcase of teeny bopper music and dance moves and pretty faces. Well, I find Zac Efron more tolerable than Vanessa Hudgens. The songs didn’t really make much sense either. Again, the first movie did better. Most of the songs seemed there just for the sake of being there. As if the writers were thinking, oh too much conversation, let’s throw in a song. There isn’t a song that catches attention. Like now, I don’t remember any tune and I only watched it about 2 hours ago. The plot was so cheesy. The typical having to choose between yourself/your future and your friends. With the usual feel good ending. I assume Troy managed to get his scholarship in the end despite ‘ditching’ Sharpay. Thing is, life doesn’t always turn out that way and…well, choosing to give up a college scholarship which he’s so close to getting, in favour of pleasing his friends and not being ostracised…I think that’s a stupid choice. If they’re real friends, I think they’d understand that he has to look out for himself and do what’s best for him too. As nice as it would be, it’s not possible to look out for the team all the time.

HSM got me thinking also, last summer was the last summer holiday I’d ever spend. I never realised it before. I was watching the finale song bit and then it just hit me that this time next year, I’d be having a job and working and there’s no more summer holiday for me for the rest of my life. Oh My God. I’m kinda glad I had quite a good holiday to remember it by though. But…the future’s scary. I have no idea what I’ll do this time next year. There’s a big huge question mark looming big and it’s coming closer and closer with each passing minute. Can you imagine that 16 years of education is just coming to a close? At the outset, it was like an eternity. In primary school, I could never imagine what university was like. But now I’m here and I’m graduating in a few months. Where did the time go? It’s scary knowing that time can seem to go by so fast. I miss being a kid. I don’t feel like I’m ready to be an adult. My whole life so far, I’ve had so many things to be embarrassed about but nothing much to be proud of. What have I accomplished in my life? Not much I think.

Oh, and I’ve still got tinnitus. IT’S FUCKING ANNOYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Forgot to add, yet another person from the church died yesterday. So that makes it 3 in a week. If we count the funeral that was at the church yesterday at the same time as the wedding, that’ll make it 4. What the hell?! Is that just part of me growing up? That people all suddenly start dropping dead?

So, because 2 people have been really really quick and commented on my previous post, I can’t do an ETA like I was planning to and have to do a whole new post. Which who really cares anyway? It’s my blog and I’ll do it how I like.

Anyway, I’ve finished listening to OMWH by Clay Aiken. Firstly it’s a HUGE difference from ATDW. Definitely a huge difference. And while almost 80% of the songs sound really nice for radio, it’s good that there’s lyrics so I can read them. Cos the lyrics are really very very meaningful, even if the music don’t seem to match – but that’s just me. I don’t think there’s a song in there that’s really on a happy theme. It’s all very angsty and, just lyrics alone, kind of melancholic even. (^.-) Is Mr Aiken feeling the effects of lost love or something? Btw, I see the repeated theme of lost love and pain as an indicator of life. Mr Aiken, masochism may make you feel alive but it’s not a healthy outlet for angst and broken hearts. Someday, in the capacity of a bo liao Claymate, I might just read through the entire lyrics set and see what exactly is the message behind it all. It’s kind of depressing actually. He’s got lyrics like: ‘Now that I know pain I’m more alive’, ’silence, long lost friend, you’ve come to me again’, ’seems whenever I let somebody get this close, I’m right back where I got hurt the most’, ‘everybody gets down down down, why you tryin to carry the weight of the world?’, ’self-inflicted circus clown’. Anyway, get the point? There are depressing (even if they are pretty) lyrics in there. Well, those who read my fanfics would know, I love this kind of stuff. Angsty and all the sadness. Anyway…

Of course, I don’t expect all the songs to be like On My Way Here or Lover All Alone (which incidentally was the itunes bonus track from ATDW). There are songs in there that are super uptempo and nice if you don’t listen too closely to the lyrics. I go in for the more sappy ballads. My favourites are The Real Me and Sacrificial Love which I will put the lyrics up later, then you can see what a sap I am. Lol! Hmmm…not sure what else to review. I really wish Clay managed to get Kyrie onto the track list. It would be a wonderful ending song. You know? After examining his life up to now and he’s gotten where he was getting to, it’s nice to end with a song that talks about his walking into the future. Or he could have ended with On My Way Here instead of opening with it. You know? Something a bit more hopeful and optimistic.

So on the whole, I find the album is well worth the wait and very well prepared. Clay has come a long long way since he first started and the lyrics of this song can chronicle in a way, his struggle as an artist and maybe his personal life (now that he has to juggle a public and private life)? Unfortunately, a tad forgettable. At the end of the cd I’m not humming any song nor do I really remember any of the tunes. So, on my personal, multipurpose scale, I give On My Way Here 3.5 out of 5 stars.

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The Real Me
Foolish hearts looks like we’re here again. Same old game of plastic smile, don’t let anybody in. Hiding my heartache, will this glass house break? How much will they take before I’m empty? Do I let it show? Does anybody know?

But you see the real me hiding in my skin, broken from within. Reveal me completely, I’m loosening my grasp. No need to hold back my frailty cos you see the real me.

Painted on, life is behind a mask. Self inflicted circus clown, I’m tired of the song and dance. Living a charade, always on parade, what a mess I’ve made of my existence. But you love me even now, and still I see somehow that you see the real me hiding in my skin, broken from within. Reveal me completely, I’m loosening my grasp. No need to hold back my frailty, cos you see the real me.

Shadows of shattered dreams. They’ve followed me, they’ve haunted me. But you’ve taken the broken pieces of my life and helped me to believe.

You see the real me hiding in my skin, broken from within. Reveal me completely, I’m loosening my grasp. No need to hold back my frailty cos you see the real me.

Sacrificial Love
Sometimes I feel like I’m chasing the shadows in your eyes. Losing my footing and looking for something I recognize. You tell me you’re here forever, but act like you’re passing through. Which one’s the real you?

Are you only practicing until you find the real thing? Taking up space until you find yourself that perfect face? Are you looking over my shoulder? Am I enough or just your sacrificial love?

I know when we started that I kind of talked you into this. I was good for the moment but now something’s missing from your kiss. I see you lying beside me but I feel you’re moving on. Which one’s the real you?

Are you only practicing until you find the real thing? Taking up space until you find yourself that perfect face? Are you looking over my shoulder? Am I enough or just your sacrificial love?

Do I have to spill my tears, teach you how to say goodbye? If that’s not what I am to you, then what am I? What am I?

Are you only practicing until you find the real thing? Taking up space until you find yourself that perfect face? Are you looking over my shoulder? Am I enough or just your sacrificial love?

Let’s talk about a controversy that’s going round regarding the movie “The Golden Compass”. There’s a lot of controversy going on that this film is super anti-Christian and even the Vatican has condemned it as portraying a world devoid of compassion and humanity feeling. Essentially a godless world. According to Wikipedia, it says that people saw the Magisterium as a Church gone wrong and the movie in itself was a rebellion against the Magisterium and the established order and is therefore promoting anti-Christianity and atheism. Did I get it right? I don’t really understand it though. That’s why no matter what I argue here, I’ll still be arguing in the dark. Can someone please explain it to me in a nutshell so I can edit my post accordingly.

My take on the storyline: It’s a film based on a book called “Northern Lights” by Philip Pullman. In this story, people’s souls live outside of the body and are manifested as creatures called daemons. Kids’ daemons are not fixed and can still change shape. As with real life society, the society in the film are also divided into classes and are ruled by this governing body called the Magisterium. There is also this thing called Dust which is supposed to be the thing which gives rise to anything and also forms a conduit between worlds. Ok, so, as the story goes, some evil people somewhere are kidnapping children to experiment on them by ‘cutting’ their daemon away from them, supposedly thinking that it would make them more…obedient? Supposedly it’s supposed to cut off the ‘bad influence’ of Dust that happens when the kids grow older. Along the way all the adventures and the fighting polar bears and evil characters etc. And in the end they managed to save most of the kids and ends with a note that war is coming or something like that.

I enjoyed the film even though (I think I said so before), the huge action sequences gave me a headache. No where did I start to equate the Magisterium with the Church. I think people are reading far too much into the film. You might as well say that Star Wars is anti-religion also. It’s just as bad – the Force being Christianity and the Imperial Senate being the church. No? But I digress. I can understand (even if I didn’t like it) why people were so pissed off at the Da Vinci Code. After all, Dan Brown himself wrote in the book that the story is true. But this? It’s FANTASY. It’s NOT REAL. It doesn’t even come near to portraying real life. In real life, people’s souls don’t exist outside of the body. This is and was clearly portrayed as a PARALLEL universe. Who said that parallel universes have to mirror reality? I have no idea where this controversy came from. Far from being godless and promoting people to turn against the church, I saw it as being the other way round. Lyra was working against the Magisterium in order to restore what was the ‘religion’ which was about the Dust and souls and what not. The Magisterium was the bad guy that was trying to kill off ‘religion’ and beliefs. If we wanted to draw real life parallels, then the Magisterium is the secular government. Actually, I saw the Magisterium as the coughusgovernmentcough. The part about cutting off the children’s daemons is like the government brainwashing people to do its bidding. A thing which is not uncommon in the world. It was not godless, rather, it was a portrayal of the kids searching for god (in the Dust) as an alternative to the evil government that they are living under. Yes, I interpreted Dust as God.

Oh and by the way, I don’t know what was the point of the aleithometer. It was just a tool to advance the plot. It wasn’t some sinister whatever. Not that I perceived anyway. Same with the polar bears. Not entirely important to the plot as a whole. Probably why I almost forgot about those anyway. (until I looked up imdb then remembered).

Yeah anyway, in my earlier post I awarded this film 4 out of 5 stars. I do not retract this rating because well, this is my honest opinion and if peope can’t tell the difference between a work of fiction and fantasy as compared to say one which purposely tries to be a satire or social commentary, then it’s their own business to come and pull out controversies out of nowhere. I thought the major themes were actually friendship and hope and justice. I recommend this movie to whoever wants to watch a good film. Like I said before, why can’t people go to the movies and enjoy films for their own sake? Let entertainment be entertainment and stop trying to find things that aren’t there!

Oh well. Title says it all. I’ve got a headache tonight. Ouch!! It started just before choir and developed since then. I think choir didn’t help, what with all the sound waves travelling through my head and resonating in my head chamber. :p Bleah. Come to think of it, I’ve been getting headaches of the sort quite often lately. Tonight’s was the worse though. Wonder why. Usually I get headaches like this when I didn’t sleep enough. But I did what!!! Hmm… Anyway, I can’t think now. I shouldn’t even be on the comp now. I should just switch off and go to bed. Hello darkness my old friend.

Been really slacking the past few days. Watched movie almost every day. Since exam ended last Tuesday (can you believe it was only a week ago??), I’ve watched “The Prestige”, “Shrek 3″, “The Golden Compass”, “Night in the Museum”, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, “Star Wars 3″, “Star Wars 4″. That’s 7. Not counting the Ugly Betty episodes and youtube clips that I’ve been watching on the lappy either. :p I am addicted to technology I tell you. But not that the technological world cares about me. I get at least 10 emails a day, out of which only 1 or 2 are actual content stuff. The rest are junk mails – updates from stuff I subscribe to etc. Anyway, I was wanting to do a movie review but there’s just too many. I’ll do a summary.

The Prestige – Alright. Better if we had put on the subtitles cos the English accent was a tad too strong for understanding. Also better if the book was read first. Easier to understand the plot that way too. I think I over-hyped it. 3 out of 5 stars.

Shrek 3 – Tolerable. Given that I didn’t really like the previous few Shrek films cos of it’s ‘anti-fairytale’ thing. It’s entertaining and brainless. Having to resort to Puss in Boots and Donkey changing personality was gross. The introduction of King Arthur was lame and people in England DO NOT SPEAK WITH AN AMERICAN ACCENT!!!!!! 2 out of 5 stars.

The Golden Compass – I suppose it was pretty good. There was too much going on on screen and made me really really dizzy so I only could enjoy half of the movie. The rest of it was spent trying not to throw up but, I could hear what was happening and it sounded freaking cool! From what I saw, it was an interesting and engaging plot. Didn’t read the book so no idea about what all the controversy was about. Why can’t people just enjoy a movie/book (a work of fiction for freaks sake) for what it is without thinking that it’s trying to undermine religion or human rights or whatever??! 4 out of 5 stars.

Night in the Museum – Another brainless flick. I think I might have reviewed this before but lets talk about it again ya? Nice feel good movie with a moral ending to believe in yourself and to develop yourself into greatness. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – This was a strange movie. I have NO IDEA what it’s supposed to be about or what was happening. It was like a strange Alice down the rabbit hole moment. And the strong British accents didn’t help either. So… for the comedy that made sense only in the scene that it was in and not in the context of the rest of the movie and the complete incomprehensible plot, 2 out of 5 stars. Oh, I like Marvin the Paranoid Android.

I don’t think anyone needs an introduction to Star Wars. Only this to say. HD TVs don’t work too good for stuff that aren’t in the HD format. For eg, my Star Wars 4 vcd was not HD. The picture was wonky! >.<

Ok, all for now. SleeP!!!

Just got back from the Esplanade from watching Rockapella concert. OMG!!!!!!!! Enjoyed every minute of it. Anyway, for those who don’t know, Rockapella is an all guy acapella group that sings. Omg! (I’m still kinda high).

Met up with the two Lalas. And Su Hui and Sumi. Had to run to get in cos the person with the tickets on their side was late and we just made it in after the usher told us to run cos the doors were closing. Not that great seats (kinda center, circle3 top floor, LAST row in the ENTIRE concert hall). The people on stage looked so small. :p But what to expect from $45 seats? haha!

Their singing was like, woah! Completely blew me away. They sound so good. The acoustics of the hall complemented them so well. And then there were segments when they didn’t use the mics and sang just like that. And I could hear them clearly all the way from where I was sitting (considerable distance from the stage). They did a lot of SG banter, like talking about Singlish and the lah and calling each other buaya, and talking about liking the food at the newton hawker store. One song they sang, “The Lion sleeps tonight“, they changed the lyrics to “merlion sleeps tonight”. haha!!!! Then there was a segment where they pulled up a lady from the audience onstage with them and flirted with her during the song. Their chemistry onstage (between the group) was electrifying. Then they talked about singing the “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego” theme song “every.day.for.five.years.” *laugh*

Their dance moves. Woah. I admit, I was mainly watching Scott. He’s like, rubber legged, all those moves he did. He was so high and just having so much fun that it was infectious. He was a bit like the Energiser Bunny. Well, considering that in the programme he says he drinks Tiger Beer to get ready for a show, I kinda wonder if he’s completely sober onstage. Btw, one of their sponsers is Energiser.  hehe! They were making fun of their vocal percussionist Jeff Thatcher (“he speaks.”) Their bass guy, George Baldi (the third. Apparently) was dang low voice. Sexy. haha!

Initially wanted to go buy their album but the concourse was like swarming with people and the queue was hell. AND later on, Rockapella came out and did autographs (of which the queue was worse). So we left. (I know, so_____. Can’t remember the word all of a sudden).

All in all, loved it. Gives Rockapella 4.5 out of 5 stars on my all purpose rating.  Enjoyed my evening out in their concert.

On reflection, me getting a tattoo is an expression of rebellion and an expression of all those frustrations in the past week or so. *grin*

Anyway, went to watch 881 yesterday. well…I won’t say that it was bad. But it wasn’t as good as what I expected it to be. I think it’s one of those movies that are better on TV rather than on the big screen. As in, the storyline… it was pretty lame. The Papaya Sisters wanting to live their dream of being getai singers but Little Papaya is dying of cancer and Big Papaya is being repressed by her mother. And then there’s the Durian sisters who are going all out to fight the Papaya Sisters for dominance on the getai stage. A bit lame and dragged on for longer than it should have. Some pretty useless elements in the plot, such as Wei Lian’s appearance and Guan Yin’s chicken. I don’t know much about getai music but I guess that went on alright. The Durian Sisters I could not stand (but I think that was the point of their characters). Their freakin accent. Crazy. I liked Auntie Ling. Such a loveable ah soh.

I think I liked the ending (after the long drawn out and boring death of Little Papaya). When Big Papaya goes back to sing on the getai at 7th month and Little Papaya ‘joins’ her. Moving moment.

Kudos to whoever made the costumes. The costumes were IMPRESSIVE! So were all the strange effects. Strange because, like TY said, it was like a 武侠剧 with people flying all over the place and lasers shooting from their bra. Like the Durian sisters said, “What eva.”

Not sure exactly what Pakir wanted us to learn while watching that (unless it’s to learn culture) but I was a little surprised that the ENTIRE thing was in dialect more or less. Some mandarin lines and one or two English words but other than that, it was all Hokkien which was surprising given the govt’s efforts to promote Mandarin and disallowing dialects.

Anyway, strange characters, strange effects, a weak storyline, strong music and strong costume effects. A cheesy made-for-tv, culturally specific, time specific movie. I’ll always prefer Jack Neo movies in the local scene. Royston Tan is trying but not quite reaching there I think. His is more artsy. Kind of like “Gone Shopping”. Bit hard to assign a rating to this cos on the one hand, it’s crude and kind of plotless and don’t deserve such a high rating. But on the other, it is not really that bad for its cultural value. Unfortunately, I don’t think it deserves too high so, 2.5 out of 5 stars.

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Now playing: The Dream Cast – Do You Hear the People Sing (Reprise)
via FoxyTunes